Simply Good Teaching: Supporting Transformation and Change Through Education for Sustainability

Abstract

This article proposes that Education for Sustainability (EfS), with its focus on transformative and learner-centred approaches, and higher order thinking skills, enriches teaching and learning in Vocational Education and Training (VET), with implications for quality pedagogy more generally. EfS pedagogy has the potential to inform a new discourse on VET's role in citizenship and responsibility for the future, characterised by some as a shift from productivism to ecologism, and described by UNESCO/ILO as critical thinking towards sustainable development. After reviewing the literature on quality pedagogy in VET, as well as on EfS itself, this article evaluates the impact and effectiveness of a nationwide professional development program to upskill VET practitioners in EfS pedagogy. Early findings indicate personal transformations for participants both as individuals and VET professionals, with high levels of teaching practice enhancement generally through uptake of EfS principles and practice. Based on our findings, we draw conclusions and make recommendations for further research.With respect to pedagogy (defined as the art and science of teaching), what does quality teaching and learning mean in the Vocational Education and Training (VET) context? How might Education for Sustainability (EfS) enable quality teaching and learning? First, we review the literature to explore what 'quality' means in terms of VET teaching and learning. We then describe EfS and explore how it might fulfil the criteria for quality VET pedagogy, examining its potential contribution to enhancing pedagogy in general.Finally, we review an evaluation study conducted on the impact and effectiveness of EfS professional development programs implemented nationally in Australia for VET practitioners during 2012-2013. We argue for the relevance of EfS as an enabler for quality pedagogy on the basis of evidence from this study and from the literature.

Η Συμβολή Των Βιωματικών Εργαστηρίων «Παρεμβαίνουσας Μη Κατευθυντικότητας» (NDI) Στην Ανάπτυξη Αξιών Και Ικανοτήτων Της Αειφορίας

“…576-577). Οι παράγοντες αυτοί οφείλουν να υποστηρίζονται από -και ταυτόχρονα να προκαλούν-σημαντικές μετατοπίσεις/αλλαγές σε προσωπικές στάσεις, νοοτροπίες και συμπεριφορές (Bedi & Germein, 2016, p. 129• Force et al, 2018• ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΗ Ο δρόμος της αειφορίας απαιτεί ριζικές αλλαγές σε όλες τις όψεις του πολιτισμού μας, μάλιστα στην εκπαίδευση, η οποία ίσως προκαλεί παρά θεραπεύει τα δεινά των ποικίλων κρίσεων που έχουν ξεσπάσει κατά τις τελευταίες δεκαετίες. Υιοθετήσαμε τη βιωματική/μετασχηματιστική/βαθιά εκπαίδευση και την ενσωματώσαμε στο πλαίσιο σπουδών ενός μεταπτυχιακού προγράμματος μέσα σε ένα κατάλληλα διαμορφωμένο χωρόχρονο.…”

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“…Several sources have attempted to articulate the features of an EfS approach, demonstrating the broad scope that it entails [48]. Bedi and Germein [49] capture a sense of this breadth in noting that through 'embodying transformative, constructivist, and social approaches to learning, EfS aims to develop higher order thinking modes such as reflective, critical, relational, wholeof-systems, or ecological thinking.' The significance and urgency attached to implementing an EfS approach in higher education, as well as the barriers to doing so, have now been well-surveyed in the literature [50,51].…”

Thinking differently: An education for the Anthropocene from Uttarakhand, India

“…Education for Sustainability 3 (EfS) was notable among the 'educations' in focusing specifically on values, thinking and process skills (Bedi & Germein, 2016;Smith & Watson, 2019;Tilbury & Cooke, 2009). EfS incorporated the work of E.F. Schumacher, Fritjof Capra and Gregory Bateson on complex systems thinking and ecological worldviews.…”